Thursday, July 24, 2008

When Albert Einstein told Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 that the atomic bomb was possible, he did not tell the president about another discovery he had made, something so extreme and horrific it remained a secret . . . until now. This extraordinary new novel from one of the most brilliant talents in contemporary fiction is a standout literary thriller in which one man stumbles upon the discovery Einstein himself tried to keep hidden.When twelve-year-old Daphne Marrity takes a videotape labeled Pee-wee's Big Adventure from her grandmother's house, neither she nor her college-professor father, Frank Marrity, has any idea that the theft has drawn the attention of both the Israeli Secret Service and an ancient European cabal of occultists—or that within hours they'll be visited by her long-lost grandfather, who is also desperate to get that tape.And when Daphne's teddy bear is stolen, a blind assassin nearly kills Frank, and a phantom begins to speak to her from a switched-off television set, Daphne and her father find themselves caught in the middle of a murderous power struggle that originated long ago in Israel and Germany but now crashes through Los Angeles and out to the Mojave Desert. To survive, they must quickly learn the rules of a dangerous magical chess game and use all their cleverness and courage—as well as their love and loyalty to each other—to escape a fate more profound than death.A pulse-pounding epic adventure that blurs the lines between espionage and the supernatural; good and evil; past, present and future, Three Days to Never is an exhilarating masterwork of speculative suspense from the always remarkable imagination of the incomparable Tim Powers.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

"The main headache stems from the idea that if you went back in time you could, theoretically, do something to change the present; and that possibility messes up the whole theory of time travel.

Clearly, the present never is changed by mischievous time-travellers: people don't suddenly fade into the ether because a rerun of events has prevented their births - that much is obvious. So either time travel is not possible, or something is actually acting to prevent any backward movement from changing the present.

For most of us, the former option might seem most likely, but Einstein's general theory of relativity leads some physicists to suspect the latter.

According to Einstein, space-time can curve back on itself, theoretically allowing travellers to double back and meet younger versions of themselves.

And now a team of physicists from the US and Austria says this situation can only be the case if there are physical constraints acting to protect the present from changes in the past."

But here's the thing: 1.) people do go missing all the time, who's to say someone didn't go back in time and prevent their birth??? and 2.) Would we really even be aware that the future was altered, since we would just be living in the altered future (and wouldn't have a concept of the "original" future?) Just throwing that out there.

On a kinda-side note....I think it's interesting that when I was a kid (say...25 years ago or so), black holes seemed to be a far-out theory. Now it's commonly accepted that they exist.

On a totally different side note....this is a fun site to waste a few minutes on:Sloganizerjust type in any word, and it will give you back a slogan. Here are some of my favorite "Thinkercize" slogans:Thinkercize, your family will love you.Thinkercize inside you.Thinkercize is the only way to be happy.

Ok so these are 3 pretty rad sites that everyone should check out...1) http://wikisky.org/ - For anyone who thinks Carl Sagan is their homeboy. This is like google maps but for the whole universe... and for scientists. They have some cool features if you play around with it. And unlike Google maps, no download required.2) http://www.nymbler.com/ - A really interesting idea, I think that Kaity will like this one... you put in a few names that you like, and the site kicks out a bunch of other baby names that you should like.3) http://www.gasbuddy.com/ - Find the cheap gas.